What to put in an emergency binder

Start with the question, not the paperwork

Most emergency binder templates begin with a list of documents to gather. That is why so many of them never get finished: you open the template, see forty blank lines, and close it. A better way to start is with one question: if I were not here tomorrow, what would my family need to know by the end of the week?

The answer is surprisingly short. They need to know who to call, where the papers are, where the money is, and what you want. Everything else can wait a month. So fill the binder in that order: the first two chapters in one evening, the rest over a few weekends.

One more rule before you start: no passwords go into the binder. A binder is meant to be found. If it contains your banking login, whoever finds it has your bank account. Write down where the passwords are kept instead (a password manager, a sealed envelope in the safe, a specific person) and who can help get in.

Chapter 1. People to call

• The one person who should be called first, with a phone number that works, and a second in case the first does not answer.
• Your doctor, your lawyer or notary if you have one, your accountant, your employer's HR contact.
• The executor of your will, if you have named one, and whether that person knows.
• Anyone who must be told personally rather than finding out from social media.

Write the relationship next to each name. "Marta, sister, lives in Berlin" is more useful in a crisis than a bare phone number.

Chapter 2. Documents and where they are

This is the chapter that matters most and the one people skip. You do not need to copy the documents; you need to say where the original is.

• Will or testament: where the signed original is (notary, lawyer, home safe, court registry). A photocopy is not a will.
• Powers of attorney and healthcare directives, same rule: the original counts, the binder says where it lives.
• Passports, ID cards, birth and marriage certificates, residence permits.
• Property deeds, car title, rental agreement.
• Tax returns for the last few years and where the accountant keeps the rest.

For each: what it is, where it is, and when it expires if it does. A photo of the first page helps your family recognise the document when they find it.

Chapter 3. Banks and money

• Every bank and every account type (current, savings, deposit), the branch or app, and whether anyone else is on the account.
• Cards and which account each one draws from.
• Brokerage and investment accounts, pension savings, crypto exchanges, and where the recovery information for those is kept (not the keys themselves).
• Loans and mortgages: lender, monthly payment, whether there is payment protection insurance.
• Money owed to you and money you owe to people, not just institutions.

Debts do not disappear on death; in most countries they are paid from the estate before anything is passed on. The US FTC explains that family members are generally not personally liable unless they co-signed. Your family can only handle this correctly if they know the debts exist.

Chapter 4. Insurance

• Life insurance: insurer, policy number, who the beneficiary is, and where the policy document is. Many families never claim because they do not know a policy exists.
• Health insurance and any supplementary cover.
• Home, contents, car, travel and liability insurance, with renewal dates.
• Insurance that comes with a job, a credit card or a club membership. These are the ones everyone forgets.

Chapter 5. Contracts and subscriptions

Utilities, phone and internet, streaming, cloud storage, gym, software, domain names, magazine subscriptions, a storage unit. Write down the provider and how it is paid. Your family will need to cancel these, and the ones paid by card will keep charging until someone does.

Chapter 6. Health

• Conditions, allergies, current medication and dosage, and where the prescriptions come from.
• Your GP and specialists, blood type if you know it, implants or devices.
• Whether you have an organ donor registration and where the card is.
• Healthcare directive or living will: where the original is and who holds a copy.

This chapter is the one that matters if you are alive but unable to speak for yourself, which is a far more common emergency than death.

Chapter 7. Home and car

Where the spare keys are, the alarm code and who else has it, the landlord or management company, the mortgage, when the boiler was last serviced, where the car is registered and insured, where the car keys and the title are. If you own property abroad, the local contact who looks after it.

Chapter 8. Digital life

Not the passwords, but the map:

• Which password manager you use and who has emergency access or knows where the master password envelope is.
• Whether you have set up an Apple Legacy Contact or Google's Inactive Account Manager, and who the contact is.
• Email accounts, which one receives bank and government mail.
• Social media accounts and what you want done with them (memorialise, delete, leave).
• Domains, websites, online businesses, and who the technical contact is.
• Photos: where the archive is, and whether it is backed up anywhere other than your phone.

Chapter 9. Dependents and pets

Children: who the named guardian is and whether the guardian has agreed; schools, doctors, allergies, routines. Elderly parents you look after: their care arrangements, their doctor, their own binder if they have one. Pets: vet, food, medication, who takes them if you cannot.

Chapter 10. Work and pensions

Employer and HR contact, employment contract, any death-in-service benefit, unused leave, company shares or options. Every pension pot you have ever paid into, including the ones from jobs you left fifteen years ago, with the provider and policy number. State pension or social security details. Self-employed: your accountant, your clients, who to notify, where the invoices live.

Chapter 11. Wishes

Burial or cremation, religious or not, where, who should speak, what should not happen. Who gets the personal things that are not in the will: the watch, the letters, the recipes. Messages you want passed on. This chapter is not legally binding anywhere, and it does not need to be. It is the chapter your family will reread.

What to do with the finished binder

1. Print it. A file on a locked phone is not a binder. Keep the printout somewhere your family can reach: a drawer, a home safe they know the code to, or with the person named in chapter 1.
2. Tell one or two people it exists and where it is. The binder that nobody knows about does not help.
3. Put the date on it and review it every 6 to 12 months and after every big change: moving, marriage, divorce, a new account, a new policy, a new job.

If you would rather be guided through all eleven chapters than stare at a template, Manila is an iPhone app built around exactly this checklist. You answer short questions chapter by chapter, attach photos of documents, and get a printable PDF with index tabs and a note for your family on the first page. It works offline, has no account, and never stores a password.